The summer transfer market is the silly season of wheeling and dealing that can exhaust before the window actually opens on 1 June. From this cabaret of posturing and horse-trading come those sagas that promise to rival The Mousetrap (25,000-plus performances and counting) for longevity. While most club's sales and acquisitions are footnotes or short-lived tales, others become shaggy dog yarns as they stretch through Wimbledon, The Open, England's Test match fortunes and into the start of a fresh football season.

The general though not definitive rule here is that the future of at least one player becomes an epic that stagnates, regresses and progresses through the warm months. Luka Modric, Dimitar Berbatov, Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri all know what it is like to open a newspaper on any given day from May to August to read how where they might be booting a ball next is billed as headline news yet again.

The saga of Robin van Persie's destiny was last year's soap opera. This got up and running in early March when at Manchester airport before an Europa League game in Portugal, Roberto Mancini declared: "We are interested in all good players … But I think he will sign a new contract with Arsenal, because if Arsenal also lose Van Persie they will have a big problem."

The Dutchman's next move would be aired from spring to late summer and it would prove not only Arsenal who were caused a season-defining problem when he left. By early February Manchester City's title defence was moribund and Mancini would rue 17 August when Van Persie declared he had listened "to the little boy inside" and signed for Manchester United for £24m. Twenty-five Premier League goals later and the 29-year-old is an English champion for a first time and City currently trail United by 14 points, following the car crash Champions League challenge that ended with them bottom of their group.

The continent's blue-riband club competition can be a shop window for Europe's finest talents, especially when they shine in the latter stages as May approaches and managerial minds are focused on how best to strengthen for next term. This takes us to the first name on the list of this summer's potential slow-burning transfer stories …

Robert Lewandowksi, 24, Cost £34m

The quartet of strikes Lewandowski smacked past Real Madrid in Borussia Dortmond's 4-1 victory in last week's Champions League semi-final first leg were aptly timed by the Polish marksman. Sir Alex Ferguson is a confessed admirer, and the jockeying has already begun in earnest for those clubs who hope he will lead their line for next season.

According to his agent, Maik Barthel, this will not be United. He says: "I can tell you only one thing – Robert is interested in the future coming to the Premier League. The Premier League is very interesting for Robert. How long is the future, I cannot say to you. I think this summer is not the future."

The smart German money is on Lewandowski going to Bayern Munich. The option for Dortmund here is a Hobson's choice: sell him to their fiercest rivals and be doubly weakened following Mario Gözte having his buyout clause triggered by them, or allow Lewandowski's contract to run down until next year, and watch him walk away for free.

Wayne Rooney, 27, Cost £25m

Whether or not Lewandowski arrives the question of the Liverpudlian's future will run and run until he signs a new contract as Ferguson has stated Rooney will. The striker's current deal has two years remaining from June and those who should know say he does not wish to leave United. If Ferguson decides he wants to let Rooney go this will not matter, of course. Yet given what the Scot said when speculation rose that Rooney was surplus to requirements following his dropping for the Champions League tie with Real March, then the 27-year-old should remain come 1 September. "He will be here next year, you have my word on that," Ferguson said. "There's absolutely no issue between Wayne Rooney and I." Paris Saint-Germain are a declared suitor and, though there has not yet been an official approach, there may well be.

Gareth Bale, 23, Cost £50m-plus

£50m was the starting price for the Welsh forward from Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, until he became the newly crowned PFA player and young player of the year on Sunday. Take your pick from United, City, Real, Barcelona, Milan, Juventus and PSG of the world's premier clubs who would love to see him in their livery next year. Will he move? André Villas-Boas insists that if Spurs qualify for the Champions League Bale stays. After Saturday's draw at Wigan Athletic the prospect is in the balance as the Lillywhites stand in fifth place, though they do have a game in hand over Arsenal, who are fourth and have two more points.

Luis Suárez, Cost £35m-plus

Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool are clear that the gifted Uruguayan should stay until his contract runs out despite his 10-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic, but what does Suárez think? Putting aside his troubled temperament and inability to dodge controversy, the forward may take a look at Liverpool's failure to ensure Champions League football again next term and decide now is the time for him to advance his career. Suárez would enhance any of the Europe's super-powers so if, say, Barcelona come calling they might be hard to turn down: his fantasy footballing talent and totemic persona appears ideal to reinvigorate the faltering Catalans. The 26-year-old has three years left on his contract, but expect stories about to where he could move to feature for the next four months.

Both Manchester clubs and Chelsea wish to go to market to sign a striker of proven pedigree and Suárez's compatriot, Cavani, and the Colombian Falcao are two who would light up their respective sides, and the Premier League. There is not, of course, only domestic interest and the frantic manoeuvring for any star player's signature is crystallised by the reports a few days ago which claimed that Falcao (and José Mourinho, as manager) is already a done deal for the Blues despite April not yet being over before Monday's statement arrrived from Ladbrokes that, conversely, United at 3-1 would "take Falcao from underneath Chelsea's nose". In fact, the west London club are now third in the race for the Atlético Madrid striker with Real having leapfrogged ahead in the odds.

Cavani is in the same category: until the Napoli forward is viewed in Azzurri colours post-August the story of his fate will roll and roll.

José Mourinho, Cost £12m a-year plus contract buyout compensation.

The Portuguese leads the cult of the marquee manager whose billing has joined the players as stellar front-of-house performers. The will-he-won't-he-stay at Real Madrid question has become an ongoing production since Mourinho began falling out with certain members of his squad, sections of the club's support, and the Spanish media, and was given fresh life by Dortmund's 4-1 rout of Real last week. On 10 April Mourinho said: "When the season ends I will sit down with who I have to sit down with, who as well as being the president [Florentino Pérez] is also my friend and is the legal and emotional representative of all Real Madrid fans. We will sit down quietly and talk about my future, like two friends."

If he does depart, Chelsea appear in pole position though the uncertainty over Mancini means City might explore the possibility. And, there is always the challenge of attempting to win a domestic league in a fifth differing country – France – should PSG come calling.